Elric to Rescue Tanelorn - Michael Moorcock [126]
The dragonflies settled on the savages until nothing could be seen of their bodies. The hissing increased and sounded almost pitiful as the insects bore their victims down to the surface and then inflicted on them whatever terrible death it was. Perhaps they stung with their tails—it was not possible for the watchers to see.
Sometimes a storklike leg would emerge from the water and thrash in the air for a moment. But soon, just as the reptiles were covered by the insect bodies, so were their cries drowned by the strange and blood-chilling humming that arose on all sides.
A sweating Duke Avan, sword still in hand, ran up the deck. “Is this your doing, Prince Elric?”
Elric looked on with satisfaction, but the others were plainly disgusted. “It was,” he said.
“Then I thank you for your aid. This ship is holed in a dozen places and is letting in water at a terrible rate. It’s a wonder we have not yet sunk. I’ve given orders to begin rowing and I hope we make it to the island in time.” He pointed upstream. “There, you can just see it.”
“What if there are more of those savages there?” Moonglum asked.
Avan smiled grimly, indicating the further shore. “Look.” On their peculiar legs a dozen or more of the reptiles were fleeing into the jungle, having witnessed the fate of their comrades. “They’ll be reluctant to attack us again, I think.”
Now the huge dragonflies were rising into the air again and Avan turned away as he glimpsed what they had left behind. “By the gods, you work fierce sorcery, Prince Elric! Ugh!”
Elric smiled and shrugged. “It is effective, Duke Avan.” He sheathed his runesword. It seemed reluctant to enter the scabbard and it moaned as if in resentment.
Moonglum glanced at it. “That blade will want to feast soon, Elric, whether you desire it or not.”
“Doubtless it will find something to feed on in the forest,” said the albino. He stepped over a piece of broken mast and went below.
Moonglum looked at the new scum on the surface of the water and he shuddered.
CHAPTER FOUR
The wrecked schooner was almost awash when the crew clambered overboard with lines and began the task of dragging it up the mud that formed the banks of the island. Before them was a wall of foliage that seemed impenetrable. Moonglum followed Elric, lowering himself into the shallows. They began to wade ashore.
As they left the water and set foot on the hard, baked earth, Moonglum stared at the forest. No wind moved the trees and a peculiar silence had descended. No birds called from the trees, no insects buzzed, there were none of the barks and cries of animals they had heard on their journey upriver.
“Those supernatural friends of yours seem to have frightened more than the savages away,” Moonglum murmured. “This place seems lifeless.”
Elric nodded. “It is strange.”
Duke Avan joined them. He had discarded his finery—ruined in the fight, anyway—and now wore a padded leather jerkin and doeskin breeks. His sword was at his side. “We’ll have to leave most of our men behind with the ship,” he said regretfully. “They’ll make what repairs they can while we press on to find R’lin K’ren A’a.” He drew his light cloak about him. “Is it my imagination, or is there an odd atmosphere?”
“We have already remarked on it,” Moonglum said. “Life seems to have fled the island.”
Duke Avan grinned. “If all we face is as timid, we have nothing further to fear. I must admit, Prince Elric, that if I had wished you harm and then seen you conjure those monsters from thin air, I’d think twice about getting too close to you! Thank you, by the way, for what you did. We should have perished by now if it had not been for you.”
“It was for my aid that you asked me to accompany you,” Elric said wearily. “Let’s eat and rest and then continue with our expedition.”
A shadow passed over Duke Avan’s face then. Something in Elric’s manner had disturbed him.
Entering the jungle was no easy matter. Armed with axes the six members of the crew (all that could be spared) began to hack at the undergrowth. And still the unnatural silence